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FRONT RANK
day. Rhett was captured, and eventually Sherman encircled and dis-lodged
the Confederates, who left behind 108 dead and 68 wounded.
The Federal loss was 77 killed and 477 wounded. A greater battle by
far was this than Bethel ; yet it rarely gets a line in the history books.
After Averasboro Sherman was alert, but that he did not antici-pate
a formidable attack might be seen from the fact that he was
traveling with Howard's right wing nearest the approaching elements
of Terry and Schofield, instead of with Slocum's left wing, the west-ern
and more exposed flank of the army as it moved north. But on
this left wing Johnston had been bringing together the best kind of
an army he could collect in that late afternoon of Confederate power,
and on March 19, 1865, at Bentonville, he struck Slocum with sudden
and arresting force.
What followed has sometimes been called the "battle of the gen-erals"
because behind Johnston were aligned few soldiers but a galaxy
of Confederate great. Never had so many four-star generals, lieuten-ant
generals and major generals appeared on a single field. "Beau
Sabreur" Pierre G. T. Beauregard was second in command. Bragg,
another full general, commanded a corps. Lieutenant Generals Joseph
Wheeler and Wade Hampton led gaunt specters of their once glori-
"70 ous cavalry commands. Lieutenant Generals William J. Hardee and
Stephen D. Lee, great tacticians of the western armies, led depleted
corps that looked more like earlier brigades.
What remained of Bragg's great Army of Tennessee, which at
Chickamauga had won an outstanding Conferedate- victory and driven
Rosecrans pell mell from the field, was compressed into a scant corps
at Bentonville. It was commanded by Lieutenant General Alexander
P. Stewart, known affectionately to his men as "Old Straight," a
great educator and able general admired in both armies. Other major
generals in active command were Robert F. Hoke, great on any field
;
Lafayette McLaws, who had broken the Peach Orchard line at Get-tysburg;
Benjamin F. Cheatham, hard fighter at Shiloh, ]Murfrees-boro
and Chickamauga; D. H. Hill, who had held the rank of lieu-tenant
general temporarily during the Chickamauga campaign;
William W. Loring, known as "Old Blizzards," who had lost an arm
in Mexico and shown his courage by clashing not only often with the
Federals, but with Stonewall Jackson as well; Edward C. Walthall,
a lawyer who had risen from first lieutanant of the Yalobusha Rifles
to eminence in the West; John Calvin Brown, who had distinguished

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day. Rhett was captured, and eventually Sherman encircled and dis-lodged
the Confederates, who left behind 108 dead and 68 wounded.
The Federal loss was 77 killed and 477 wounded. A greater battle by
far was this than Bethel ; yet it rarely gets a line in the history books.
After Averasboro Sherman was alert, but that he did not antici-pate
a formidable attack might be seen from the fact that he was
traveling with Howard's right wing nearest the approaching elements
of Terry and Schofield, instead of with Slocum's left wing, the west-ern
and more exposed flank of the army as it moved north. But on
this left wing Johnston had been bringing together the best kind of
an army he could collect in that late afternoon of Confederate power,
and on March 19, 1865, at Bentonville, he struck Slocum with sudden
and arresting force.
What followed has sometimes been called the "battle of the gen-erals"
because behind Johnston were aligned few soldiers but a galaxy
of Confederate great. Never had so many four-star generals, lieuten-ant
generals and major generals appeared on a single field. "Beau
Sabreur" Pierre G. T. Beauregard was second in command. Bragg,
another full general, commanded a corps. Lieutenant Generals Joseph
Wheeler and Wade Hampton led gaunt specters of their once glori-
"70 ous cavalry commands. Lieutenant Generals William J. Hardee and
Stephen D. Lee, great tacticians of the western armies, led depleted
corps that looked more like earlier brigades.
What remained of Bragg's great Army of Tennessee, which at
Chickamauga had won an outstanding Conferedate- victory and driven
Rosecrans pell mell from the field, was compressed into a scant corps
at Bentonville. It was commanded by Lieutenant General Alexander
P. Stewart, known affectionately to his men as "Old Straight," a
great educator and able general admired in both armies. Other major
generals in active command were Robert F. Hoke, great on any field
;
Lafayette McLaws, who had broken the Peach Orchard line at Get-tysburg;
Benjamin F. Cheatham, hard fighter at Shiloh, ]Murfrees-boro
and Chickamauga; D. H. Hill, who had held the rank of lieu-tenant
general temporarily during the Chickamauga campaign;
William W. Loring, known as "Old Blizzards," who had lost an arm
in Mexico and shown his courage by clashing not only often with the
Federals, but with Stonewall Jackson as well; Edward C. Walthall,
a lawyer who had risen from first lieutanant of the Yalobusha Rifles
to eminence in the West; John Calvin Brown, who had distinguished